I agree the majority of the Plaster renovations should not fall on the shoulders of the students... Its the AD's job to find the right mix of student, booster, alumni, local, and (local, STL, and KC) corporate support for a project of that magnitude. I guess my question is how do other institutions get around finding financial support when the stadium bears the name of someone who hasn't funded any up grades in the last 20 years? I know an up graded facility would attract more fans (at first), higher quality recruits, produce better game atmosphere, more steady corporate sponsors, and hopefully change the loosing attitude which engulfs this program... I know everyone bitches about the attendance at Plaster but the numbers aren't horible considering our 2-9 season and compaired to the rest of the MVFC - Oct 01, 2011 #2 NORTHERN IOWA L 7-42 14827 Oct 08, 2011 ILLINOIS STATE L 13-38 10800 Oct 26, 2011 SOUTH DAKOTA STATE LOT 36-43 12312 Nov 12, 2011 #23 INDIANA STATE L 20-28 5278 (the 2-9 "ship" had already set sail) MVFC (national rank) - http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/pdfs/2012/2011 national college football attendance 10. North Dakota St. 9 home games, 18,143 avg. 21. Youngstown St. 6 home games, 13,811 avg. 23. UNI 6 home games, 13,189 avg. 28. South Dakota St. 5 home games, 12,105 avg. Missouri St. 4 home games, 10,804 avg. Southern Ill. 5 home games, 10,140 avg Western Ill. 5 home games, 8,357 avg. Illinois St. 6 home games, 8,115 avg. South Dakota 6 home games, 8,071 avg. Indiana St. 5 home games, 6,567 avg.
2011 NCAA DIVISION I FCS CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE Rank, Division I FCS, Teams, Games, Attendance, Average, Change In Avg. 1. Southwestern Athletic, 10, 53, 686,051, 12,944, -1,661 2. Southern, 9, 53, 679,491, 12,821, -281 3. Colonial, 11, 62, 754,705, 12,173, 967 4. Missouri Valley Football, 9, 51, 603,043, 11,824, 843 5. Big Sky, 9, 52, 578,647, 11,128, 1,359 6. Mid-Eastern Athletic, 11, 56, 592,752, 10,585, -345 7. Southland, 8, 47, 443,626, 9,439, 356 8. Ivy, 8, 41, 386,667, 9,431, -182 9. Great West, 3, 14, 116,323, 8,309, 325 10. Ohio Valley, 9, 48, 388,018, 8,084, -225 11. Big South, 7, 38, 269,220, 7,085, 206 12. Patriot, 7, 35, 187,711, 5,363, 68 13. Pioneer, 10, 52, 169,561, 3,261, 209 14. Northeast, 8, 42, 104,229, 2,482, 139 Independent, 2, 12, 196,367, 16,364, 35 Our FBS options - 8. Conference USA, 12, 70, 1,855,609, 26,509, -1,945 10. Sun Belt, 9, 51, 978,824, 19,193, 1,224 11. Mid-American, 13, 79, 1,345,570, 17,033, 1,423
Attendance numbers of our surrounding "lower tier" FBS schools - Tulsa, 6 home games, 22,541 avg. Arkansas St., 6 home games, 21,257 avg. Memphis, 6 home games, 20,078 avg. Western Ky., 7 home games, 16,637 avg. WTF!!! - Eastern Mich. 6 home games, 4,267 avg... How are they still FBS I'm sure MSU could compete with the above attendance #'s if we decided to make the jump with the needed upgrades, but I wonder where WKU stands financially after leaving the MVFC for the Sunbelt (travel, upgrades, booster/alumni support, etc...)?
NDSU- Fargo, ND- Metro Population 209K- 8.7% of pop attends YSU- Youngstown, OH- Metro Population 763K- 1.8% of pop attends UNI- Cedar Falls, IA- Metro Population 168K- 7.9% of pop attends SDSU- Brookings, SD- Metro Population 30K- 40.3% of pop attends MSU- Springfield, MO- Metro Population 437K- 2.5% of pop attends SIU- Carbondale, IL- Metro Population 127K- 8.0% of pop attends WIU- Macomb, IL- Metro Population 33K- 25.3% of pop attends So you can see MSU does a horrible job capturing it's market base with football compared to the schools on the list. In fact, I bet there are on any given weekend 4K to 5K fans that travel to games either at MU, Arkansas, KU or one of the other schools in the region, not to mention the probably 40K-50K that sit home and watch football in the area on Saturday's. If MSU could convince just 10% of those people to come to a MSU game at $10 a seat rather than watch games at home they would add 4 to 5,000 fans in the stands, add 250K in ticket revenues and probably another 50K in concessions. It takes marketing effort, and a good product on the field.
Is there a corrolation between "the bigger a market size and the amount of decrease of the percentage of the population that goes to a game." I noticed that YSU is regarded as being "well supported" but it's population is greater than Spfd's and it's percentage that goes to games is also less than MSU's. It could be that the larger the market the less percentage of the population goes to games. How many more people would YSU get if they had Spfd's support or maybe thats just what happens in a market as it increases in size, the percentage goes down.
How much tradition, winning, facilities, atmosphere, marketing, etc. is needed to getting fans in the stadium seats at the FCS level? I only ask because Indiana State has a long loosing tradition, bad facilities, but they finished #23 in the nation (and ranked half the year), they beat an FBS school (WKU)... but ultimately failed to fill their stadium this year. "Indiana St. 5 home games, 6,567 avg." Where does the blame fall there? The lack of quality of opposition (at the FCS level, even if they had #1 & #24 in Terre Haute), winning tradition, marketing, AD, university, because winning/on field product did not work...
As for Youngstown, they do a very good job of drawing considering all of the FBS schools in that state: Ohio State, Ohio, Akron, Toledo, Cincinnati to name just a few. I would think a good portion of their population might make a trip to one of those games as opposed to attending YSU games...and they still draw nearly 14,000 a game. I would really love to see MSU push football a lot harder. As I've mentioned before, I'd love for them to be able to someday go FBS, but I think they need to make a commitment to put together some sort of campaign to raise money to upgrade facilities first. If we're going to stay at the FCS level for the near term, we need to improve facilities on a level that would not only allow us to compete nationally, but would be good enough to allow for a long-term goal of transitioning to the FBS level. Any sort of student seating improvements/stadium upgrades need to be made on the premise that they could be easily expanded. It would be a shame to see short-sighted improvements that would require demolition if/when the stadium would need to be upgraded again...should funding/donations ever reach the level they would consider moving to FBS. I also feel there are companies and big donors out there that would jump on board if a true commitment was shown by our athletic department. Yes, we do need to start winning on a consistent basis to build the fan base and increase revenue, but we also need to have a goal to expand facilities, build an indoor practice facility, and increase revenue opportunities on gameday. It's embarrassing that we don't have the facilities many upper tier FCS teams and D-II schools have. The athletic department needs to have designs in place so they can "shop" for donors and corporate sponsors to get a drive kick started. I'm not saying it's simple or inexpensive, but we need to stop half-assing it if we're planning on continuing to field a team, win recruits, increase donations and get the fan base excited. If FCS is where we plan on being for the forseeable future, we need to commit to it.
Springfield is a big enough city that there are more fun things to do than watch a 2-9 team lose. Watching a team win is fun and entertaining, people want to spend there entertainment dollars to be entertained, that is your solution... Comparing us to other MVFC teams is pointless if they are winning and are fun games to go to while in Springfield you can go to the mall/movie theater/MU or Ark games/ watch FBS games at home or sports bar/Branson/the lake, etc on a weekend and get more bang for your entertainment buck.
Its the job for the athletic department and university to reach out to the local fans but also make it a travel destination (i.e. include a hotel package, Branson/bass pro/Lamberts ticket, a dinner at plaster student union, concert at JQH and transportation train/shuttle to Springfield) to make that experience which draws alumni from the STL or KC area to make the trip to Plaster more appealing for their money.... MU or UofA have the opponents, tradition, tailgating, and support that makes people travel from all over, not just drawing the local fans from Columbia or Fayetteville to watch their teams play.
I think money spent, at least initially, would be better served focusing on a 30 mile radius of campus. Build the atmosphere, and then students who move back home might have a reason to come back. It's unrealistic to think Springfield would be a weekend destination for folks from KC or STL when there are so much better options closer to them. MSU must capture the local market before they try and fight any other battles.
I agree to an extent, but I'd concentrate on a 60-70 mile radius. There are a lot of communities in the Ozarks that have decent populations used to going to Springfield for entertainment, shopping selection, and dining. Any distance past that and I would say they'd be more apt to drive to KC, St. Louis, Tulsa, NW Arkansas, Branson, or the lake of the Ozarks. There are a lot of places around here where we need to stake our claim - places that don't have a huge MU or Arkansas presence. We need to be promoting the games/broadcasts by hitting their insurance agencies, VFWs, Optimists, Rotary, Knights of Columbus, Masons, Parks and Recreation, and diners.
I agree with the local promotions, but I was thinking more along the lines of marketing some sort of ticket package like buy 4 tickets (a family pack) and get a free admission to Silver Dollar City the following Sunday, $5 off at Lambert's, 50% a concert at JQH, $10 off at Hemingway's, free Bear wear when you buy food at the game (shirt, hat, etc.), a ticket to VIP tailgating area w/ free drinks/games/drawings, a free dinner on the second floor of the student union before or after the game (to solicit donations for future projects, meet the star player of game, coaches, admin), etc.... then market the aforementioned promotions for the 2012 season in the alumni magazine (already a target group), social media, or e-mails on file. A cheap and effective way to drum up support and interest and make it a little easier to sell a trip to Springfield to my family, friends, and wife.... I know I can't afford the Booster trips with the team to watch the Bears play at Oregon, Iowa, etc. so they need think out side of the box, get some local businesses to support the Bears, and give a couple of extra perks to the fans willing to travel to a game from surrounding areas, STL, or KC. Because I would love to get a hustle on other Springfield attractions and be able to see a Bears football game while I'm there.
